Monday, January 06, 2014

Lots of things going on Monday. Montco has some firsts or "hasn't happened for a long time" events.

In Ambler, Jeanne Sorg will be sworn in as the first female mayor.

In Abington, the township commissioners have a Democratic majority for the first time since 1978. Margaret Gibbons has the details in the Intelligencer ("Abington dems ready to take control,") Commissioner Lori Schreiber sent out this press release:

In advance of the January 6 Abington Township Board of
Commissioners Organizational Meeting, Commissioners Wayne Luker (Ward 5), Lori
Schreiber (Ward 14), and Steven Kline (Ward 1)—leadership of the Board’s new
Democratic Majority Caucus—are excited to announce that the caucus has convened
to define goals and priorities for the upcoming year. In a joint statement,
these veteran Commissioners said, “Abington Township is a very well-run
township with a seasoned staff of experts, and we intend to rely heavily on
that expertise. However, improvements can be found for even the finest of
operations. Therefore, the majority Commissioners would like to begin by
focusing in the areas of Economic Development, Communications, and Budgeting.”
In their remarks, they also explained that there are some areas in which they
are inheriting obvious problems, and so it is important from the start to
conduct some internal assessments, determine which areas need improvement or
updating, and establish reasonable timeframes to implement solutions and
innovations.

The
first step towards accomplishing these goals will be the election of the new Board
President and Vice President during the Board’s Organizational Meeting on
Monday, January 6 at 7:30pm. At
this time, the new majority will nominate Wayne Luker—a 22-year veteran of the
Board—as President and Steven Kline as Vice-President. Both Commissioners have
been endorsed by the entire caucus, which also includes Commissioners John
Spiegelman (Ward 11) and Tom Bowman (Ward 15) and Commissioners-Elect Michael
Markman (Ward 2), Jimmy DiPlacido (Ward 4), Ben Sanchez (Ward 7), and Tom
Hecker (Ward 10). The majority caucus is confident that this leadership has the
skills and vision necessary to guide the Board’s agenda in the service of all
Township residents. Moreover, the new majority looks forward to bringing its
collective abilities, experience, and creative, forward-thinking ideas to the
task of further advancing Abington as the region’s premier first-ring suburban
community, and to working with the entire Board of Commissioners to get the job
done.

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